Taken

Open your eyes. Feel the gentle breath of air brush against your cheeks. Remember what you were doing in that classroom at such a late hour of the night.

―I'll arrive today in the afternoon, Dad. I'll stay at school to finish improving my project for Plant class.

You were hoping to stay a couple of hours longer, but it's already dark and you don't even know when it happened. Have I fallen asleep, you wonder. Open the door. Look down the deep, dark corridors of the school. They seem endless.

Willow?, a voice is heard in the distance. You squint a little to make out whoever it is on the other side of the corridor, where darkness abounds. Finally you get to know who it is.

―Amity? What are you doing here so late at night?

―I should ask you the same question. I had to go back for some very important books that I had forgotten. What are you doing here?

You don't remember. It is too late to finish your work so you resign yourself to hand it in as it is. It's time to go home, you tell yourself, your parents must be worried. But suddenly the resounding sound of a large, heavy object falling to the ground is heard.

What was that? I don't know, but it looks like it happened over there. Look around you. Silence. Ask Amity if she has her books with her yet.

―I actually didn't find them, I could have sworn I forgot them in the classroom, but when I went to check, they weren't there. I figured someone picked them up and left them in the lost and found, so I'll look for them tomorrow. I was already heading out the exit to go home. That's when I saw you. But... Willow… ―Amity looks at you puzzled―. Why were you coming out of the gym?

You try to answer. What are you talking about, you ask her. I was in the plants room, finishing my project. Wasn't I?

―Willow, you came out of that door ―the witch points you with bewilderment―. That's the gym. What were you doing there?

Confused, you try to remember. But your memory is blank. Another loud noise is heard again. It is followed by an even louder one. And another. Each one resonates even louder than the last. Moreover, they sound closer and closer to both of you. One more noise is heard again and your suspicions are confirmed: whatever it is, it's coming from over there, from the dismal corridor, and it's getting nearer. It's coming for us, you tell your friend, we have to get out of here.

You flee, but the darkness is following you, spreading down the corridor at your own pace.

What's going on?, Amity asks in fright. Do not answer her. You gleefully watch, a few meters away, the school exit. You two run briskly. You run with all your might. Run. Save yourselves. Get out of there! Push the door. It opens. You cross the threshold.

Panting, you try to catch your breath while smiling. You were able to escape and that is a relief. But as soon as you take a look around, the realization that it is not outside the school where you are, but quite the opposite, comes. In fact, you're inside the gymnasium.

―This doesn't make sense. Why are we still inside?

As Amity questions the nature of what you're experiencing, you begin to walk through the gym. You don't know why, but it all seems so familiar.

―Willow? Where are you heading?

Amity, who is behind you, grabs your shoulder, a bit worried, when you stop right in the middle of the place. But, at that instant, translucent specters begin to emerge from the dense air. One after another, they seem not to notice your presence. Paired up, the quiet spirits begin to dance around you in a slow waltz. You and Amity step even closer and stand back to back with each other.

―I'm scared, Willow.

Gradually, the mournful melody to which the ghosts are dancing begins to rumble in your heads. Amity watches in awe as the spiraling dance takes place around you.

―Willow, react…

The dancing wraiths begin to approach the center of the gymnasium to the rhythm of the waltz. As the dance circle closes, the misty darkness of a few moments ago reappears.

―What do we do, Willow?

Spirits spin. They whirl. They lift their partners in unison. One, two, three. Leap. One, two, three. Spin. The circle closes even more. Your breath begins to be cut off. The darkness, still advancing towards you, fades everything it touches. Suddenly, you remember everything.

―Willow...

It has been four hours since you were taken.

―Willow? Amity asked on the air. But Willow was no longer by her side. And, indeed, she never was, for she had long since been taken away by the darkness ―Gus told his friends―. What happened to poor little Amity and Willow? No one knows. They were never seen again.

Luz, Amity and Willow looked at him with full attention, totally into what the boy was telling them.

―Now, unlike Luz's story, what I have just told you is not something made up. It is a legend that goes around among the people of Hexside. The two girls I told you about, it is said, did exist. I just added the names Amity and Willow in order to make them feel more immersed in the story ―Gus said with a small chuckle as he scratched his cheek, but then turned back to a serious tone―. But, know that, if one day you pass near the school when the sun has already set and there is nothing left but the silence of the night, if at that moment you hear the funereal melodies of a waltz, go ahead and do not look back. For if you do not, you run the risk of also being taken by the darkness...

King, who was hiding his face in Luz's flank, was trembling as he begged for no more horror stories to be told. Eda, who had been listening to the stories being shared by the kids and was now leaning against the doorframe of her ward, let out a snort and said:

―What do you say, King? Tonight's the perfect night for horror stories. Hey ―she commented to the group as taking a seat next to Luz―, would you like me to tell you one now?

They, though frightened, gladly accepted.

―All right, get ready to wet your pants. What I'm about to tell you is a story I heard many years ago, on one of my trips through the Boiling Isles...